Sensex falls 200 pts, Nifty below 8300; metals melt

The market extended loss in afternoon trade with the Sensex falling 196.35 points to 27505.44 and the Nifty losing 59.10 points to 8264.90 on profit taking post weak China data.

China reported a trade deficit of USD 20.8 billion in its services sector with the rest of the world in November, which was higher compared to a USD 17.2 billion deficit in the services trade for October.

In November 2013, China reported USD 54.47 billion surplus on its merchandise trade.

About two shares declined for every share advancing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Madhucon Projects has entered into a term sheet with TRIL Roads Private Limited to disinvest its subsidiaries Madhucon Infra and Madhucon Toll Highways’ 74 percent stake in Madhucon Agra-Jaipur Expressways (step down subsidiary of Madhucon Projects Limited), a National Highway Authority of India’s Road Project.

12:40pm Asian markets update

Asian markets were trading lower in late trade with the Shanghai falling more than 3 percent on profit booking. Hang Seng and Kospi were marginally down while Straits Times and Taiwan were flat.

12:25pm Market Expert

Andrew Holland expects one more round of volatility in global commodity and forex markets in January, and sees that feeding into equity markets everywhere. He sees the Nifty settling around 8300 near term.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he says India will not be able to weather the turbulence in global markets unless the government accelerates the pace of economic reforms.

He says lack of any major Bills being passed in this session of Parliament will be viewed negatively by investors, as it will delay the much anticipated recovery in the economy, and by extension, the uptick in corporate earnings.

12:00pm Market Check

The market saw profit booking in noon trade as the equity benchmarks came off the day’s high. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices too gave up all gains to trade flat.

HCL Technologies topped the selling list on Nifty, down 2 percent after the IT major said they expect a cross currency headwind which will impact second quarter revenues by 210 basis points. Another weak trigger for IT majors today was that global banks like UBS, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs may remove IT allocation from their annual budgets.

Meanwhile, voters gave a big thumbs up to Modi magic yet again. The BJP is set to form government in Jharkhand and showed a shift in Jammu & Kashmir politics. The PDP was only marginally ahead with BJP a close second in J&K elections.

Globally, Asian markets were mixed in a low volume trade. Brent traded around USD 60 per barrel following a volatile session yesterday.